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When someone is prescribed antibiotics, whether by a GP or an online consultant prescribing amoxicillin to help treat a dental abscess, there is one piece of advice they will always receive; complete the course of antibiotics that you have been provided unless you are advised otherwise.
This is particularly important with antibiotics and certain other types of medications because there are often peaks and valleys with recovery; some days you will feel better, whilst others you may feel worse before the course completes and you will typically feel better overall.
It is even more so the case with dental abscesses because the level of pain does not always match the progression of the infection; an infected tooth can often feel excruciating in the early stages before suddenly feeling relief, even though this is the case where the infection spreads and progresses further.
Here are some of the reasons why you must complete a course of antibiotics each time, even if you do not feel you need it.
Pain And Sensitivity Are Not A Barometer For Recovery
As alluded to above, dental abscesses have a particularly unusual path of progression, where someone will often feel better after an abscess bursts before it progresses to swelling and potentially more serious complications.
Because of this, just because you feel better, it does not necessarily mean you have fully recovered; there is a chance that the infection will cause swelling and pain again.
By completing the five-day course, you provide your body with the best possible chance of removing the infection or reducing it to the point that other dental treatments will be more effective.
Infections Can Come Back
By far the biggest reason why you should always take the complete course of antibiotics is that they often take time to progress through the body and completely kill off an infection.
People will feel better if most of an infection is eradicated; fewer bacteria means less swelling, less pus and less pain. However, if the bacteria are not removed entirely, there is a likelihood that they will regroup, and some of the symptoms will return.
As bacteria are living organisms, some are either luckier or more able to survive infection than others. This is known as persistence and should not be confused with antibiotic resistance.
Persistent bacteria are vulnerable to antibiotics, but they may take longer to die off. This means that whilst a lot of the bacteria causing an infection will start to die off within hours, some will take a few days to be found and destroyed.
As the entire point of taking antibiotics for a dental abscess is to stop it from recurring, it becomes even more important to take the entire course that you are prescribed.
Too Little Is Worse Than Too Much
On the subject of antibiotic resistance, it is very important not to take antibiotics when they are unnecessary or inappropriate for the condition you have. Amoxicillin is taken for dental abscesses because it is known to be effective against a condition known to be caused by bacteria.
Many common ailments that were historically treated with antibiotics turned out to be caused by viral or fungal infections, which not only meant that the medicines prescribed were barely more effective than a placebo, but also meant that there was an increased risk of developing bacteria resistant to certain common antibiotics.
Antibiotics are used to treat conditions that either risk serious complications if they are not used, are known to expedite recovery, have a risk of spreading if not comprehensively treated, or will not clear up without antibiotic intervention.
Uses outside of this are inappropriate, and most courses of antibiotics available today are shorter three-day or five-day courses compared to the seven-day or 14-day courses that were more common in the past.
Whilst there has been and will continue to be significant discourse surrounding the appropriate length of antibiotic courses to maximise their effectiveness whilst reducing the risks of resistance, any course that is prescribed should be taken to completion.
The idea of stopping a course early as soon as someone feels better could risk someone having too little protection from bacteria in their system, and thus the bacteria returning and potentially having a greater resistance to the medicine in question.
Typically, when doctors have given advice regarding stopping taking antibiotics when someone feels better, they usually advise waiting between 24 and 48 hours after feeling significantly better before stopping the course.
In the vast majority of cases of dental abscess, this is most of, if not the entire, remaining length of the course, and thus it is more beneficial to take what is prescribed.
